Abstract
The chapter explores the extent to which the Boko Haram insurgence can be seen as having ethnic undertones. This is especially imperative against the realization that a long history of centrifugalism has made social conflicts embodiments of ethnicity in Nigeria. It argues that while the Kanuri ethnic group is well-represented in the leadership hierarchy of Boko Haram, the sect also comprises members of the majority Hausa-Fulani group and other minorities in the Northeast. However, the Kanuri factor is seen as largely valuable in the negotiation of the socio-cultural environment by Boko Haram, its evasion of security agencies and even recent forays into neighbouring nations. The chapter also argues that while initially the violence of the group suggested targeting of ethnic groups from the South of Nigeria, events since 2012 have nullified this and shown that Boko Haram is more religiously driven and focused than ethnically motivated.
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Notes
- 1.
The assumption that ethnicity and ethnic allegiance can be used in referring to football club supporters or fans watching football matches in the now popular viewing centres in Nigeria (Majaro-Majesty 2010) is indeed a clear-cut case of what ethnicity is not and is also illustrative of how a regularly bandied concept like ethnicity can be wrongly conceptualized and used.
- 2.
Typified in the recurrent social conflicts which have plagued the ancient Northern Nigeria city of Jos where ethnic and religious differences between two groups in the city has been manipulated politically and otherwise to herald sporadic violence since the fourth republic in Nigeria (from 1999 onwards).
- 3.
This is often captured in the expression ‘ethno-regional’ groups.
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Anugwom, E.E. (2019). Ethnicizing the Boko Haram Insurgence. In: The Boko Haram Insurgence In Nigeria. New Directions in Islam. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96959-6_10
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